Gabe Polsky’s oddball documentary “The Man Who Saves the World?” is so strange and entertaining, you almost can’t believe it’s real. The film follows Patrick McCollum, an eccentric peace activist who genuinely believes he’s been chosen by an ancient Indigenous prophecy to unite the tribes of the Amazon and save the planet. What sounds like the setup for a mockumentary turns out to be a wild, heartfelt, and surprisingly funny trip around the world.
At first you might think McCollum is just another misfit dreamer. But as Polsky tags along on his journey (and after meeting McCollum’s friends like Jane Goodall and Chief Phil Lane Jr.), you start to see that there’s something deeper going on. The film walks this perfect line between the profound and the absurd, showing how belief can shape reality even when that belief feels totally “out there.”
This is a story that could’ve gone a much darker way, but thankfully Polsky’s filmmaking is playful and never mean-spirited. He seems just as fascinated and confused by McCollum as we are, which makes the story feel real and alive. By the end, it feels less like a documentary and more like a handful of comedic misadventures that morph into a surreal road trip into the heart of belief itself. Or is it fantasy?
The film asks audiences to question where belief ends and delusion begins, and whether the difference matters when the stakes are as high as the survival of the Amazon rainforest. At the heart of the documentary is the very real prospect of ecological collapse and the Amazon’s destruction, an ominous threat that looms in the background. It’s this tonal contradiction that makes the film so interesting because it’s a little bit crazy but also highly disturbing.
Bizarre and inspiring, funny and haunting, and deeply spiritual yet blissfully self-aware of its own absurdity, “The Man Who Saves the World?” is an atypical documentary that defies categorization. This cinematic trip blurs the lines between belief and reality, celebrating those who dare to believe in the impossible.
By: Louisa Moore
Screen Zealots 